Other Costs

Most students are well aware of the high costs of textbooks and supplementary academic materials for university courses. Currently, many of us are paying well over $600 a term for textbooks, which adds up to $5,000 over the course of an undergraduate degree.

As with most post-secondary costs, textbook prices are rising at a rate that is much greater than inflation. Environmental Economics by Field cost $44.75 at the University of Alberta bookstore in 1995 and $135.15 in 2011 – inflation only accounted for $17 of that increase. An SU textbook survey from 2012 found that the average textbook price increased 119% between 1995 and 2011, with inflation in that period only jumping 37.17%.

When tuition, fees and textbook prices are added to housing and food costs, it becomes increasingly difficult for students to get by in Alberta, a province with a high cost of living. For students with families or dependents, there are even greater pressures. High costs leave our students with progressively larger amounts of debt and severely limit access to our University.